163. Chapter 163

Chapter 163

After arriving at home and unpacking, all the Castles were downstairs deciding on lunch. Jamie was advocating for pizza again, and his parents had no objections. Since they knew Martha wouldn't have been there for meals after she married John, they had cleared the kitchen of anything that wouldn't last for a month before going back to the Hamptons. With nothing in the refrigerator at the moment, just about anything easy to eat was acceptable, so the afternoon would necessarily involve some grocery shopping.

While they enjoyed their pizza, Jamie asked, "When do I get a c…" He looked a little confused and a little annoyed and then changed tack. When can I make X's 'til Peanut is born?

"A calendar?" Kate asked.

"Uh-huh. A calendar." Then he repeated the word as if he were trying to commit it to memory.

"I'll print you one from the computer right after we finish lunch," Castle promised. "We're all ready to meet Peanut where we can see her and touch her, aren't we?"

Jamie nodded and smiled, and Kate answered, "I know I am." Rubbing her hands over her now very expansive middle, she observed. "It's amazing how much lighter these little rascals feel after they're out in the world than when they're the same size and still in here…and how much easier it is to move around when you're holding them in your arms instead of inside your body."

"Did you call Dr. Holland?" Castle asked after they finished their pizza and Jamie went off to play in his room.

"I called before we left, after the Braxton-Hicks episode, and made an appointment for tomorrow, just to check in. The doctor's due date is the twenty-sixth, but ours is the nineteenth. Which one goes on the calendar?"

"I'm pretty confident of ours," Castle answered with a grin and a kiss on her head. "I'll remember that anniversary for a long time. But sometimes babies are late. Our boy understands late. It won't make him happy, but he understands it."

"I'm pretty confidant of our date, too, but it could be that we just want it to turn out that way. I'll remember that anniversary for a long time, too," she agreed, bumping his shoulder with hers. "I counted the weeks, though, and that came out a little closer to the doctor's."

"Well, sometimes babies are early, too. I'm still putting the nineteenth on Jamie's calendar." He put his arms around her from behind and rested them on her belly, rubbing gently, and his daughter moved under his hand.

"She's gonna be a daddy's girl. When Jamie was too active, your touch calmed him down. When she's quiet, your touch gets her attention, and she moves for you. Not always a lot, but she seems to like having Daddy around."

"Good to know," he answered, nuzzling her hair as he moved his hands.

"She'll be here soon," Kate said softly, leaning her head back against his shoulder. "I have a lot to do. Things to check on…to organize."

"I thought we had most of it organized already, just in case we were at the beach and she was early. We even have a nursery set up at the beach house. Your bag is in the study, already packed for the hospital."

"I just want to be sure."

"Can it wait until tomorrow? Today requires groceries, but there's a store that sells baby things in the same block. If you know of anything we might need from there, we can pick that up, too."

"Sure. Why don't we go after Jamie's nap? I might take one myself while he does."

"You and my second girl child should go and lie down. I've got the boy covered."

Later, Castle went upstairs to check on his son and found him asleep on the floor beside the building he had made with his blocks. He picked him up and gently put him in his bed, tucked him in with a smile, then went downstairs to make a grocery list.

xxxxx

Before they did their grocery shopping, they stopped at the store across the street to look at baby things, and while they were there, Jamie was out of his stroller looking around with them.

"Daddy, look! Can we get that for Peanut?"

"Kate, look!" Castle echoed. "Can we get that for Peanut?"

Kate looked at the item and then at her men, and two pairs of hopeful, deep blue male eyes were looking at her with big smiles as Castle held out a onesie with a Wonder Woman logo and costume colors. There were even receiving blankets with Wonder Woman symbols on them.

She laughed and said, "You should see yourselves. Sure. Go ahead. In spite of the skimpy costume, Wonder Woman is a strong, smart woman."

There were two simultaneous "Yeses" and fist pumps from the Castle men, followed by a little fist bump.

"I'm getting this one for now, and I'm getting the next two sizes, too, but with long sleeves and feet." Castle announced. "One of these can be her Halloween costume. Look. The long ones even have the boots sewn in. She'll outgrow this one in no time, but it should be getting colder by then. Long sleeves and covered feet will be good."

As Castle looked for the right sizes, Kate looked at her son and said, "Jamie, you can reach the blankets, can't you? Get one of those, too. She won't outgrow blankets for a while. Then let's get out of here before you guys find something else."

With Jamie back in his stroller, they went to the checkout with their purchases and headed for the grocery store. Gathering up enough groceries to get them through the next week, they arranged to have them delivered to the loft and started walking back.

Martha and John knocked on their door not long after the grocery delivery, and Jamie was thrilled. "Are you going to stay with us?" he asked.

"No, but we'll be living in our new apartment tomorrow, and you can come and visit us," Martha answered, picking him up.

"I missed you." he said as he draped his arms around her neck.

"I missed you, too, Darling." The two of them weren't separated much while Martha was there. She did manage to take her son aside for a few minutes to do some quick planning for the next night, though.

xxxxx

Kate's appointment with Dr. Holland was as optimistic as expected, possibly a little more so.

"It looks like this baby could be here a little earlier than we originally expected," the doctor told her after her examination.

"We have our opinion of when she should be here," Kate admitted. "How soon are we talking about?"

"Within the next week, possibly the next few days. What was your estimate of the date?" Dr. Holland asked.

"Monday...the nineteenth," Kate told her.

"That could happen. I don't see the twenty-sixth in the cards anymore."

There was a knock on the door and Castle asked, "Is it okay to come in?"

"Yes, it is. It's time for Jamie to have the last ultrasound printout for his baby sister's photo book," the doctor answered. Looking at the monitor, she said, "It won't be long before you can see her for real, Jamie. Are you excited about meeting her?"

He nodded vigorously as he watched the monitor. "She's upside down."

"That means she's getting ready to be born."

"There's only two more places for X's on my…ca…calendar. Then there's a circle for the day she's born."

"Sometimes babies are a little bit late, so don't be discouraged if it doesn't happen that day. It's going to be soon. Everything is good, Mr. Castle, And the nineteenth is a good possibility. The next time I see all of you will probably be for the birth. We've talked about what to look for and when to call, but if you have any doubts or concerns, don't hesitate to call anyway. Considering that Kate's labor was short for most first pregnancies, don't wait longer than when the contractions are five minutes apart. Just take her to the hospital."

"I will. Five minutes apart wasn't far from where the last labor started. I'd much prefer to be Kate's back up and leave the actual delivery to you."

"That's the plan," she told him with a smile. The two printouts were handed to the Castle men before she handed Kate a handful of tissues to remove the gel and left them, saying, "See you soon."

"It could be Monday," Castle said with a grin. "Three more days."

"Yeah," Kate grinned back. "I'm ready…mostly."

xxxxx

They had dinner a little early that evening, and Martha and John came to join them, announcing that they were officially moving into the apartment that night.

"We still have a few things to bring from my place," John said, "but they're just odds and ends."

"Would you like to see the apartment in its finished state?" Martha asked.

"We'd love to," Kate answered, and Martha put an arm around her daughter-in-law's shoulder and excitedly walked her to the apartment with John and the other two Castles following.

When Martha opened her door, a chorus of "Surprise!" greeted them, and one look was all it took to know it was a baby shower.

"We decided a baby shower for you would be the first social event in our new home," Martha announced as Kate looked around at everyone there. She saw Lanie, Maddie, Jenny, Meagan, Maria, Captain Gates, a few female detectives and officers from the twelfth, and Karpowski.

"Did we really surprise you?" Karpowski asked, "Or have you been taking acting lessons from your mother-in-law?"

"You really surprised me. Might want to go easy on that, though. Very pregnant woman here." Kate looked around her and added with a laugh, "It's very pink in here."

"And I've promised John that will all be worked out by tomorrow, but you're having a girl, Darling," Martha answered with a hand flourish. "Of course it's pink in here."

Before they even reached the door, John was pushing Rick and Jamie back toward the loft.

"Why did they yell 'Surprise' and keep Mommy?" Jamie asked.

"They decided to have a girl party for Mommy and Peanut, and they wanted to surprise her," Castle explained.

"So you and Daddy and I are going to have a boy party," John told him. "I brought your favorite ice cream, some more friends are coming, and we can play a couple of games before your bedtime."

Ice cream brought out Jamie's smile as well as those of the older men of the family, and they found Gabe, JD, Ray Gates, Ryan, Esposito, Jim Beckett, and Frank Stokes joining them as they reached the door. The Castle ice cream collection was brought out, and the boy party began with sundaes. They gave Jamie time to play with Gabe for a little while before he was tucked into bed, then they gave Gabe snacks and free rein of the video game controller while the adults managed a few hands of poker and some adult beverages. Jim insisted that everyone drink what they wanted. He stuck with soft drinks. Everybody was happy.

At the shower, there was a substantial collection of gifts stacked on a fringed, pink floral print piano shawl on top of the grand piano in the living room.

The silly games were kept to a bare minimum, and in spite of the pink and the element of surprise, Kate enjoyed the party. The company was good, conversation and refreshments were good, the gifts were opened and appropriately appreciated, and everyone seemed to have enjoyed it. When it was over, hugs were exchanged as Kate thanked each guest as they left.

"Thank you, Martha," Kate said. "I'm honored that this was your first social gathering in your new apartment. And thank you to the rest of you who may have helped. This was fun."

"Well, reward me by not foisting the name Martha on this innocent child."

"What's wrong with Martha? It's a fine name."

"Well, I can't give it up now. I built my professional career on it. But I hated it when I was a child. I suppose all of us spend some time disliking our own names. Probably because we had no control over deciding on them. So, if you're thinking of it, please don't."

"But…"

Martha just held up a hand and shook her head. "I think the rest of us will be going back to the loft with you to collect our men. The men had their own party."

"Why am I not surprised?" Kate asked.

"Because we know them?" Alexis suggested.

"Everybody grab some of these gifts and we can get them all to the loft in one trip," Martha ordered. "Kate, Alexis kept track of who gave you what, just in case some of it slipped past you. There's a list, and she put all the cards and gift tags in the right boxes."

"Thank you child," Kate said appreciatively and gave her daughter another hug. "I guess we should go and see what the men are up to."

The women entered the loft just as Jim was victoriously pulling in his winnings.

"It's that lawyer face. Can't read him," John was complaining. "He should be outlawed."

"Well, he's got all our money. He probably wouldn't miss us now," Frank said with a laugh.

"Look at you, Dad. All you need is a green visor and a big cigar," Kate joked.

"How much did it cost you to win that hand?" Meagan asked.

"Not much." Esposito told her. "That wasn't the only hand he won, or John wouldn't have been complaining."

"We didn't play for rich writer stakes," Jim answered his wife, "But, thanks to these fine gentlemen, I can take you out for a nice dinner tomorrow night," he added with a teasing smile.

"Do all Becketts have an evil side?" Ryan asked, and the good natured atmosphere showed as they all laughed.

The couples drifted away one at a time until only the two Castles were left. "So…lots of gifts?" Castle asked as he looked at where the packages had been left on the top of their own piano.

Kate nodded. "The same team that gave us the Officer Bear on Jamie's dresser sent us another one to watch over Peanut." She took the bear in its dress blues out of the box and clipped it into the support that allowed it to be free standing and stroked the fur of its paws wistfully.

"Want to put it in the nursery tonight?" her husband asked.

"Yeah. Never hurts to have a protector in place when you move in."

"So what else is here?"

"Some really cute girly dresses and overalls, and an NYPD hoodie with little footed sweatpants. It's adorable. Next size up from new born, though. It should be good for when the weather starts getting cooler." They looked through the frilly little dresses in several sizes and the sleepers and onesies and lace trimmed socks and girly little shoes and a few odds and ends.

"It's going to be fun to dress a little girl again," Castle said. "I loved making Alexis look girly."

Kate leaned against his side and said, "Keep in mind that if you get the Beckett clone you think you want, the girly thing might not last as long as it did with Alexis."

"I can deal with that. Besides, if that's who we have, we'll love our tomboy…not that I'd want to change a thing. We created her out of love. She's ours. We just love her. Come on. Let's go put Officer Bear on duty."

They went upstairs to the nursery and found the perfect spot for Officer Bear and then went to bed. The other gifts could wait until morning.

xxxxx

Mid-morning on Saturday The Ryans and the Espositos stopped by.

"Jenny forgot to bring this last night," Ryan said, and Jenny handed Kate another gift. "And Javi and I realized last night how long it had been since we had seen each other," he added, pointing at Esposito, "so we decided to have lunch today. Everybody's busy tomorrow. You guys want to come?"

Kate and Rick looked at each other and shrugged.

"I'm due really soon. It could be any time," Kate warned.

"As long as you don't expect us to deliver this baby, we're good," Esposito answered.

"Yeah, Captain Beckett. That would be an abuse of power," Ryan chimed in.

Kate opened the package and found a new ring sling to carry the baby.

"Oh, that's the perfect gift, Jenny," Castle told her. "I hadn't mentioned it to Kate yet, but I haven't found the one she used for Jamie. I was going to get her another one. I think that's the last thing on the necessities list."

"Then I'm glad we stopped by," Jenny answered, looking pleased. "Um…Sarah Grace needs a diaper change. Is there some place I could change her before we go?"

"We already set up the downstairs changing table in the study. You can take her in there."

"Can I come with you?" Jamie asked.

"Yeah, come on," Jenny answered. "Peanut is going to have icky, smelly diapers, too. You might as well get used to it."

Jamie climbed in the chair next to the changing table to watch as Jenny changed a very messy diaper, and started cleaning up a very messy Sarah Grace. And Jamie made faces and mentioned the stinky smell. Jenny talked to him as she used wipes on her daughter. When the baby was cleaned up and he could actually see everything, everybody in the other room heard a distressed young voice asking a little louder than usual, "Where is her penis?!"

"She's a girl, Honey; so she doesn't have one," Jenny explained.

"Uh-oh. Better go rescue Jenny," Castle chuckled as he went into the study, leaving laughter behind him in the living room.

"Daddy, Sara Grace doesn't have…"

"I know. That's because she's a girl. Only boys have them."

They were returning to the mixed company in the living room when Jamie insisted, "But Mommy has a penis."

"No she doesn't." Castle clarified as Kate covered her face with her hand, and the rest of the adults practically swallowed their tongues trying not to laugh out loud in the face of the little boy's distress.

"Are you sure?"

Castle's chuckle was as small as he could manage as he answered calmly, "Yeah, Buddy. I'm sure."

Ryan and Esposito pointed to the door and left the loft to walk down the hall before they exploded into laughter, leaving Castle with Jamie and the women.

"Mommy?"

"He's right, Honey. I never had one." The answer was delivered with an admirably straight face.

Jamie still looking puzzled and somewhat upset, leaned his head on his father's shoulder, and Castle rubbed his back. "It's okay, Son. By the time you're grown, it won't seem so bad."

At that point, all the women were biting their lips, and like Castle, trying not to burst out laughing. "Wonder where those cowards went," Jenny asked Maria under her breath.

Martha and John came to their door to see what all the noise in the hallway was about, the boys treated them to the story, and the laughter started all over again.

When John caught his breath, he said "I'm so sorry I missed that."

Eventually the boys got themselves under control and returned to the loft. Jamie was pulling himself back together after his shock that half the people he knew didn't have such an important body part. He still didn't seem entirely convinced, but he had stopped asking.

"Hello, cowards," Castle whispered as Ryan and Esposito returned.

"Sorry, man, but we didn't want the little guy to think we were laughing at him. You gotta admit it was funny.

"Yeah, it was, but we probably haven't heard the end of it yet. He still looks suspicious."

"Yeah, Buddy. I'm sure." Ryan quoted, imitating Castle, and he and Esposito were chortling again. "That was all we could take."

"So you still want to go to lunch with us?" Esposito asked with a grin.

"Kate? You feel up to going."

"Based on recent body parts issues and my lack thereof, that could lead to so many inappropriate answers. But yes, I can go to lunch."

Once they were out of the loft, things settled back to normal, and everyone enjoyed their meal. As they walked back to the subway stop near the loft, three and a half year old Jamie and fourteen month old Sarah Grace were in strollers with their mothers, communicating with each other somehow as young children do; and Castle was walking behind them with the boys.

"Jamie's having a rough month," he told them. "First he discovered his grandmother was moving out of the loft and asked her if she didn't like us anymore. We thought they were both going to fall apart. Lots of tears. And probably early next week, he's going to have a baby sister who's going to be infringing on the attention he's had to himself for his entire life. Then today he discovered his little sister won't have a sacred body part. A man forms a close attachment to his package at a pretty young age. That had to be a painful realization."

"So you never talked about that?" Esposito asked.

"Well, Kate doesn't walk around the loft naked, and we don't take him to places where there are naked women. So, no. We hadn't really thought about it."

"Lessons for the future," Ryan stated. We're hoping for a boy sometime soon, so we'll probably have to prepare Sarah Grace for the 'What's that thing?' question."

"Good. Then I can laugh at you," Castle answered.

The Castles parted with the others at the stairs to the subway station and walked back home.

xxxxx

Kate was restless on Sunday afternoon, putting away all the shower gifts, double checking her bag for the hospital, checking the nursery, doting on Jamie, making a couple of lists, and whatever else she could do to keep herself busy.

Finally, when Jamie was asleep, Castle said, "You're nesting."

"I'm what?" She stopped for a moment and looked up at him with a smile. "Maybe I am. Do you think that means tonight or tomorrow?"

"I hope so." His hands were on her middle again. "We're ready, Kate. No matter what you think you need to do, we're ready for our next daughter. This baby doesn't care how many lists we make or whether the room is perfect or all the baby gifts are put away. She just needs to feel loved and cared for. And we know we can manage that."

"Yeah. You're right. We can do that, and I can't think of anything we haven't done. I've mostly been looking for things to do, whether there's anything there or not."

"Why don't we take a relaxing shower and go to bed…let your body rest up for what comes after nesting."

"What if I don't want to rest right away? If she's born on our schedule, it's going to be weeks before we can 'not rest' again."

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah. A pregnancy position, maybe for the very last time?"

"Shower after, then?"

"Works for me."

xxxxx

A little after seven in the morning, Kate woke up with her back feeling uncomfortable. After a trip to the bathroom, she tried to sleep again; but she was restless.

"Hey, everything okay?" a sleepy Castle asked. "Is something happening?"

"I'm not sure."

"Just remember, we're ready, so you don't need to worry. Mother said she and John are on call to keep Jamie for us, and your bag is packed. All we need to do is get you to the hospital."

"You're so calm."

"That's because I haven't seen you go through the first contraction yet. I hate seeing you hurting."

Suddenly her eyes widened and she left the bed quickly and went into the bathroom again. Castle was right behind her.

"What is it?"

"I think my water just broke, but it isn't like last time. It's only a little bit so far."

"I think I read that happens as often, or maybe more often than losing all of it at once. But it probably means it won't be long. We're going to be holding our daughter…probably today." He put his arms around her and held her, letting her lean against him…just loving one another.

She felt a twinge in her back and asked Castle to get his phone and be ready to start timing when she was sure there was a contraction, which didn't take much longer to recognize. It didn't take much more than half an hour longer for him to have timed several contractions at five minutes apart.

In the interim before the next contraction, she told him, "I think it's time to call Martha."

Castle already had his phone at his ear and in seconds was asking his mother to come to stay with his son, who as luck would have it, was coming down the stairs just as the next contraction hit. They hadn't seen him at that point, and he stopped at the landing of the stairs and asked, "What's wrong with Mommy?"

"Mommy will be okay in a minute. Your sister is about to be born. Grams is on her way to stay with you while I take her to Dr. Holland at the hospital."

"Does it hurt for Peanut to be born?"

"Only for a little while," Kate assured him.

"Did I hurt you when I was born?"

By that time the contraction was over, and she took a couple of deep breaths and walked to him to stroke his hair. "It hurt for a little while, but you know what? Once you were born, it stopped hurting and I forgot that it hurt. All I could think of was how much I loved you and how happy I was to hold you and kiss your tiny little hand and snuggle you. And after your sister is born, I'll forget the hurt again because I'll be so happy to have her to love like I was happy to have you. Don't worry, Mommy will be fine; and Grams will bring you to see all of us after Peanut is born."

Castle was at the door, holding it open for his mother. Martha came in and picked Jamie up, and Castle shouldered Kate's bag. "Kiss Mommy goodbye, and next time you see her, you'll have a little sister."

He leaned from Martha's arms and kissed Kate's cheek, then Castle hurried her out of the loft before the next contraction, He had called for a town car earlier, and it was waiting for them in front of the building.

"As fast as you can get us there safely, Darrell."

"Yes, Sir."